Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/394

 The Supreme Court of New jfersey. in any of their statutes. The crimes of mur der and treason were triable by the Court of Oyer and Terminer; but if the accused were convicted his punishment was referred to the Governor and his Council. The contrast between this penal code of West Jersey and that existing in East Jersey was most remarkable. The settlers in East Jersey drew largely upon the Mosaic law for penalties for crime. In cases where domes tic animals were the occasion of injury to any human being, this was most specially the case; the provisions of the Levitical law being literally copied. In this province there were thirteen crimes punishable with death, to wit : Murder, Arson, Perjury, " Stealing away any of mankind," Burglary and Rob bery on the commission of the third offence, Witchcraft, Conspiracy to invade or surprise a fort, Theft where it was incorrigible, Smit ing or cursing a father or a mother, on the complaint of the parent, Rape subject to the discretion of the court, and gross and unnatural licentiousness. But life, in no instance, could be taken without a trial by jury, and the evidence of two or more wit nesses was invariably required. A jury was guarantied in all cases, whether civil or criminal. The punishment by whipping en tered very largely into the penal code of East Jersey. In West Jersey there was no enactment which provided any punishment for the crimes of murder, treason, or arson; and during the twenty-four years of the Quaker administration there was not a single case of an indictment for any of these offences. There was, in fact, no mention of a punish ment by death for any crime in the statutebook of the Province. While the Puritan element in East Jersey thus asserted itself by these sanguinary laws, that same element was unsurpassed in its jealous preservation of the personal rights of the individual citizen, and in its protection of the suitors who sought the aid of the courts. In other directions the influence of this 47

361

element was manifested. It made the am plest provision for the education of the youth of the community. The foundation of the very best system for the maintenance of common schools was laid in an act passed in the early history of the province. It intro duced, by solemn act of the Legislature, the pious custom of setting apart a day for pub lic Thanksgiving. The settlers at Newark brought with them from Connecticut their church organization and their pastor; and for many years that settlement was the only one in the whole colony of New Jersey where there were stated religious services on the Sabbath through a regularly ordained minister. But even the jealous guard which the Puri tan placed over the independence of the citizen of his community was more than equalled by the vigilant and liberal tolera tion of the Quaker. The Puritan never learned the lesson which his neighbors in West Jersey were taught by the fiery perse cutions which had followed them from their old home in England to their new one in America. The austere and grim Puritan never learned the true spirit of liberality in permitting others to worship God as they chose. William Penn was one of the proprietors of West Jersey, and doubtless was a leader among its citizens. It is not known who was the author of that wonderful document called the "Concessions," which was the real constitution of the Province of West Jersey, but it was worthy of the broadest-minded statesman who ever ruled the destinies of a nation, and, considering the tendency of pub lic sentiment of the time, it was amazing that such a document could be produced. "No man nor number of men upon earth," says this immortal declaration, " have power or authority to rule over men's consciences in religious matters; therefore it is agreed and ordained that no person or persons what soever within the said Province " (of West Jersey) " shall at any time hereafter, in any way or upon any pretence whatsoever, be